


Heavy, Gentle Hand

by aurumdalseni (kyo_chan)



Series: Voltron Five Times Kissed [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bottom Shiro, D/s, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Shiro/Hunk - Freeform, Shunk, bottom!shiro, rarepair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-26 17:44:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9913883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyo_chan/pseuds/aurumdalseni
Summary: Hunk trusts Shiro with his life, but he can't really trust Shiro with his own life. He makes it a point to step in to take care of his leader. [A "Five Times Kissed" ficlet]





	

**Author's Note:**

> From my 50 Follower Event over on [tumblr](http://paladinpuppypile.tumblr.com) ~ Five Times Kissed
> 
> The lovely and inspiring Bosstoaster requested Shiro and Hunk, and since I gladly live in rarepair hell, I bring you this set of kisses with gentle dom Hunk and a Shiro that needs him.

1.

Thankfully, not all injuries were severe enough for the cryo replenishers. For those that weren’t, Hunk had taken up a non-official position as the team’s chief patch-up guy. He was the first one to usher an injured paladin to the room Coran had deemed the med bay. It was fully of so many things with Altean labels that Hunk was slowly learning -- mostly by trial and error. He’d seen all of his friends in various states of undress sporting all manner of wounds. Bruises from the training deck, stings from weird alien bugs, cuts from sharp claws, burns from lucky blaster shots. He’d had a few close calls with his uneasy stomach, but kept it together because, damn it, he was going to be good at this.

He hated it the most when it was Shiro sitting on the sterile surface of his work table. Nevermind that the black paladin was usually the most easygoing about being there in the first place. It never sat well with Hunk how comfortably he bounced up to sit on the edge, swinging his feet like a little kid on a swing instead of a wounded soldier. Maybe it was a coping mechanism. Maybe it wasn’t _maybe_ at all. Hunk would have bet the moon -- any moon would do, he’d seen a lot of them now -- that he was the only one except Keith who had seen just about all of Shiro’s scars. For what it was worth, that same ease had Shiro pulling off his bodysuit or unzipping his vest without hesitation. For either Hunk’s comfort or his own, he tried not to call attention to the roadmap of violence laid out on his skin.

“I always was more of a dog person,” Shiro quipped while Hunk dabbed antiseptic on the fresh scratch marks on his left shoulder. He flinched a little at the sting, but didn’t make a sound. “Figures I’d incite some alien cat to go for my eyes.”

“My sister had a cat named Smokey when I was a kid,” Hunk replied, leaning in to peer at the wound, making sure it was clean before he dropped the bloodied gauze into a contamination bin. “We called it Flesheater.”

“Charming. I guess I should consider myself lucky there’s one cat I can actually get along with.” Shiro flashed Hunk a smile and winked. He really was so comfortable with being hurt.

Hunk’s smile was reflex alone. He wondered if these marks would scar over. He hoped not. Grabbing the rest of his supplies, he settled in to start bandaging the wound. “You should be more careful.”

The laugh he got in reply wasn’t reassuring. “Now who’s space dad here?”

“I’m serious, Shiro.” Hunk didn’t look up from his work. “I know it’s not a big deal to you, but it is to me. Every time you get injured, it’s one more close call, it’s one more moment something worse could have happened. It’s one more time you didn’t think you were important enough to keep safe.”

“Or I could have just been too slow to get out of the way in time.” All of the humor had vanished from Shiro’s tone.

“Yeah, after you put yourself between that alien Flesheater and something else. It’s nice that you want to protect us and all, but I’d really like it if you started protecting you.” The sound of the medical tape tearing was too loud in the bright-white room.

Shiro wasn’t looking at him. “What’s one more at this point?”

Hunk’s jaw dropped and he snapped his head up. Shiro’s chin was in his hand before he could even think about what he was doing. Any concept of leader versus paladin had gone right out an airlock. He met Hunk’s sharp look with wide eyes.. “Stop. Don’t _ever_ say that again. I trust you with my life, Shiro, but you’re going to have to start convincing me I can trust you with yours.” He let go with an apologetic caress along Shiro’s jaw that felt right in the moment, but he didn’t say he was sorry. He actually wasn’t.

“Hunk…”

“All done.” He smoothed his hand over the bandage, the fresh marks beneath. “I want you to go back to your room and rest. You’ve done enough today.”

“O-okay…” It sounded like a stunned ‘yes, sir’.

“One more thing.” Hunk leaned in and kissed the top of the bandage. A practice he’d brought with him from the home he missed. Comfort. “Good as new.”

2.

Exercising caution was always so much easier said than done, sounded better than it did to actually practice it. Especially for Shiro. Military training for what _could_ happen had turned into straight up survival instinct for what _did_ happen. Once the switch was flipped into the bright flood light of all or nothing, it became so much harder to turn it back off and return to the darkness of the blissfully ignorant. Shiro was a beast in a fight. It was keyed onto his every nerve that it was the only way to survive. It meant that coming out alive was paramount to any other outcome, even serious injury. Heavy conditioning.

Shiro worried that if he lost that edge, something would happen to one of the paladins, and it would be his fault. Not good enough, fast enough, leader enough to stop it from happening. Sometimes his nightmares were from the arena, and sometimes they were from the battlefield. Broken lions, broken paladins, things he believed could happen if he slipped up just once. There was no room for mistakes, any complication that forced him to change his plans halfway through settled on his shoulders. His burdens practically dragged on the ground.

Hunk seemed to be very focused on changing that. Shiro was actually scared it was working and even more scared that he wanted it to.

He had started to listen when Hunk chided him on risks he didn’t have to take. He quietly sat down and ate when Hunk pushed a plate in front of him. He had even begun to let Hunk usher him to bed instead of pushing past exhaustion into his second wind just so he wouldn’t have to chance a nightmare. Hunk was often there when it inevitably happened, soothing away the hurt with a touch Shiro had come to crave if he let himself admit it. Hunk praised him when he gave in, told him he was so good for taking care of himself.

Hunk kissed him the very first time Shiro said ‘please’ and didn’t know what he was asking for.

3.

Shiro couldn’t identify the driving force behind his steps, no words could encompass it. He nearly tumbled out of the black lion’s cockpit, stumbling toward a shimmer of gold somewhere beyond his sight, but right at the core of him. Everything blurred past him as he made his way, desperate and high from the battle, the flight. He needed to be grounded, needed to feel stable. He didn’t remember the hallways he passed through, barely acknowledged his path. He just knew when he reached the heart of his destination, and all it took was a thought for the doors to Yellow’s hangar to rumble their way open. Hunk looked up in surprise from where he had disembarked, having just barely gotten his helmet off before Shiro started closing the distance between them.

“Shiro--” was all he could get out of his mouth before he was backed up against a paw of the yellow lion.

Their mouths crashed together, and Hunk bore the weight of him easily, leaned up into questing hands. He slid his own arms around his leader, placing one hand solidly at the small of his back, the other resting on his nape, pressing in with his fingertips. He opened his mouth, let Shiro work out what he was feeling with his teeth and tongue. It felt good, so impossibly good, to take what Shiro could give, lean into the press of his body and brace himself against his lion. He took his chance to breathe when Shiro broke away to suck in a breath and Hunk dug his fingers into his neck when he sensed an apology threatening to roll off the exhale. “I’ve got you, hon,” he said breathlessly. “Let go. Just let go.” He’d barely gotten the words out before Shiro was kissing him again. And again.

4.

Shiro was a mess.

Hunk stared down at him with a soft smile on his face. The black paladin lay limp against the pillows still panting. His scarred skin gleamed with sweat, littered with dark bruises and the fading impressions of teeth. His legs were still spread and shaking slightly. Hunk leaned back, taking it all in, honestly feeling grateful, maybe even a little smug. God but Shiro was _incredible_ when he let everything down, gave in. This wet, breathless display before him was the result of hours of attention. Hunk’s patiently slow build started with kisses, then eager touches, claiming marks and soft commands. Shiro had gone from questioning to encouraging to begging, and those were some of the sweetest sounds Hunk had ever heard in his life.

While Hunk waited for his own afterglow to pass, he shifted between Shiro’s thighs again to get closer. Shiro made a little pleading noise, as if he could have persuaded Hunk back inside him, no matter that their bodies were spent. With a low chuckle that made Shiro shiver beneath him, Hunk reached out to brush damp hair from his forehead.

“You were so good,” he murmured, watching as Shiro’s half-lidded eyes closed completely. He leaned into Hunk’s touch as well as his praise. “You remember what I told you tonight?”

“About taking care of me or how tight I am,” Shiro hummed, his lips quirking up into a bratty smirk.

Hunk laughed, a husky sound that accompanied the firm grasp he took on Shiro’s chin. He hovered over Shiro, loving how the weight of him dragged a moan from Shiro’s throat. “Specifically taking care of you. But you did feel so so good.” He pressed a kiss to Shiro’s mouth, nipping at his lower lip.

Shiro sighed and stretched beneath Hunk, wrapping his arms around him. The smirk had softened into something more sincere, just for Hunk. “Thank you.”

“Good boy,” Hunk replied, “you’re welcome.”

5.

Shiro leaned into Hunk with his arms wrapped around his waist as they stared out the vast windows on the bridge. The vast map of the universe had been opened and it filled the room with a blue-black haze as Allura fixed on a set of coordinates. Though the paladins had learned their fair share of Altean in all this time, they didn’t need it to recognize where they were headed.

They were going home.

As Earth blipped into sight among the stars, Shiro leaned his head against Hunk’s shoulders. He felt a bittersweet sort of excitement about knowing where they were headed. His heart raced at the anticipation of breaking atmo and landing, but he wasn’t sure he was ready. He didn’t think there was anything left for him here. A forsaken pilot, thought dead in space for all this time, it was like a ghost trying to come back to life. Hunk could return to his family, make a place for himself, pick up where he left off. Shiro wasn’t sure he could do that.

“I can hear the gears turning,” Hunk said quietly.

“It’ll be good to be back.”

As if he could sense the lie, Hunk’s hand on his hip tightened. If Shiro didn’t know better, he’d swear it was a warning against whatever dark ideas might be going through his head.

“Nothing changes, you know. You’re with me, you’re mine. If you need me to be ‘home’, you know you’ve got it.”

“It’s not fair, Hunk,” Shiro said, and he sounded tired, even to himself. “You’ve got your own life to live now that all this is over.”

“Yeah? And you’re part of that life now. I don’t stop loving you just because the universe doesn’t need Voltron anymore.”

“Hunk.”

“Quiet, Shiro. You don’t have a problem being mine, do you?”

“Have I ever?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

Shiro smiled in spite of himself. He’d fought it, he’d resisted out of a sense of protecting Hunk. But Hunk didn’t need protecting, at least not from Shiro. He leaned in just enough to kiss his cheek gently. “Home, sweet home.”


End file.
